This invention relates generally to mapping disc flaws in hard disc drives. More particularly, the present invention discloses a method by which the time necessary for disc flaw mapping in high capacity disc drives is reduced to an acceptable level.
Before a disc drive can be used, it is necessary to run tests to determine the location of flaws in the disc. Until now, the method of testing was to write a predetermined sequence on the disc at very small intervals. The data is then read off the disc and compared to the initial writing. Any location whose value, when read, did not correspond to the value when written was known to be flawed. This list of locations can then be stored on the disc surface to prevent any attempt to write in the location, and thereby insure customer data integrity.
The major problem with this method of testing disc drives is the large numbers of writes used to find the flaws.